Nag Panchami Recipes

The sacred festival of Nag Panchami is not only an occassion for sacramental rituals but also for tasty foods. In fact, many food items are specially prepared to pay a tribute to the various snake-gods worshipped during the occassion. TheHolidaySpot brings to you a collection of food recipes traditionally prepared on Nag Panchami. Prepare these at home and make the celebrations more grand for you and your loved ones. To share these recipes with your friends, just click here. Shubh Nag Panchami!

Instructions:
1) Take a pan and sprinkle over it some of the black sesame seeds. Sprinkle little water over the seeds and pan roast them.
(Sprinkling water avoids popping up of sesame seeds from pan during frying)
2) Mix the rest of the sesame seeds with jaggery. Pulse the mixture in a blender till sesame seeds are powdered and gets blended with jaggery.
3) Remove the mixture from blender and mould them into small laddu balls. As no ghee or oil is needed to make these laddus, these are absolutely healthy to eat. So enjoy them without a care!
Edited to Add: If you like making laddus with powder, just sprinkle little milk and then make laddus. If you are making these laddus for offering, do not roast the sesame seeds.

3) When the batter leaves the sides of the pan, transfer it into the greased plate or greased banana leaf. Spread the batter evenly with a flat bottomed steel cup. Apply some ghee on the top. This will make the spreading easier.

4) Allow the batter to cool and then cut it into squares. You may also decorate it with cashew halves on the top. This sweet is usually made on 'Nagara Panchami' day.

Instructions:
1) Soak the raw rice for 1-2 hours. Grind the rice with poha, grated fresh coconut, grated jaggery and
salt. Pour as little water as possible, and stir till you get a smooth paste. Keep aside.

2) Mix together the coconut gratings, jaggery gratings and crushed cardamom pods. While mixing, slightly crush the ingredients to release the coconut and jaggery juices.

3) Line up the leaves over a clean flat surface. Hold the tip of each leaf with your left hand, and apply some of the rice paste on the mid-vein of the leaf as a thin layer without the green of the leaf coming through. Do the same for all leaves. This is to ensure that when the leaf is folded over, the stuffing is exactly in the middle and the thin line makes sure that the stuffing does not overflow.

4) Wash hands. Have the steamer ready with the water boiling. Next, fold one side of the leaves over the other length-wise. Press the leaf edges lightly, so that the paste sticks together and the jaggery does not overflow while melting. Steam all the leaves filled with rice-stuffing one by one for 10-12 minutes.